A week of volatile trading in Chinese markets has left Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index 5% lower.
Both Hong Kong and mainland-listed stocks fell on Friday, losing the partial recovery they made after diving earlier this week.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 staggered 498.83 points, or 1.8%, to 27,283.59.
Reuters reported the country’s industrial output jumped 6.2% in June, sharply rising from a 6.5% drop in May. June retail sales rose 0.1% from a year earlier, less than forecasts for a 0.2% gain.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.57 per U.S. dollar, strengthening slightly from levels above 109.9 earlier in the week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng erased 354.29 points, or 1.4%, to 25,961.03,
Tech stocks fell, reversing from their Thursday gains. Alibaba tumbled around 4%, Tencent was down about 2.6%, and Meituan dived nearly 6%.
Markets will be tracking the COVID situation in Sydney, which reported a record daily rise in COVID cases Thursday despite an extended lockdown. Reuters reported that authorities have requested help from the military in enforcing the lockdown.
Meanwhile, National Australia Bank’s stock gained 0.62% after the bank said it would buy back $2.5 billion Australian dollars ($1.85 billion U.S.) in shares, according to Reuters.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7384, after a dip earlier in the week to around $0.735.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 lost 39.1 points, or 0.8%, to 4,811.17.
The yuan, however, recovered strongly after selling off earlier this week, tracking the stock losses. The offshore yuan was at 6.4624 on Friday afternoon, after weakening to around 6.52 levels earlier this week.
In other markets
The Kospi index in Korea slumped 40.33 points, or 1.2%, to 3,202.32.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index stumbled 155.4 points, or 0.9%, to 17,247.41
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index backtracked 13.67 points, or 0.4%, to 3,166.94.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 deleted 134.32 points, or 1.1%, to 12,594.52.
In Australia, the ASX 200 subtracted 24.77 points, or 0.3%, to 7,392.62
